Homo quīdam cum per dēsertum quoddam iter habēret, sōlam ibi Vēritātem remōtō in locō dēgentem invēnit, eamque sīc alloquī coepit: Quid causae est, mulier, quod, urbe relictā, dēserta colis? Cui statim illa, Quia, inquit, inter paucōs ōlim Mendācium versābātur, nunc vērō apud omnēs tūtō dēgit. Et sānē, sī id impūnē dīcere datum est, tūque velis audīre, nunc hominum vīta perversa est.
SOURCE: This comes from the Latin translation that accompanies De Furia's edition of the Greek Aesopic corpus, published in 1810 and available at GoogleBooks. This is fable 364 in De Furia; for other versions, see Perry 355.
READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons (above) or accent marks (below) - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the very bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)
ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with accent marks, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):
Homo quidam cum per desértum quoddam iter habéret, solam ibi Veritátem remóto in loco degéntem invénit, eámque sic álloqui coepit: Quid causae est, múlier, quod, urbe relícta, desérta colis? Cui statim illa, Quia, inquit, inter paucos olim Mendácium versabátur, nunc vero apud omnes tuto degit. Et sane, si id impúne dícere datum est, tuque velis audíre, nunc hóminum vita pervérsa est.
UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text:
Homo quidam
cum per desertum quoddam
iter haberet,
solam ibi Veritatem
remoto in loco degentem
invenit,
eamque sic alloqui coepit:
Quid causae est, mulier,
quod, urbe relicta,
deserta colis?
Cui statim illa,
Quia, inquit,
inter paucos olim
Mendacium versabatur,
nunc vero
apud omnes tuto degit.
Et sane,
si id impune dicere
datum est,
tuque velis audire,
nunc hominum vita
perversa est.
IMAGE. Here is an illustration for the story (image source) - I thought this photograph could be a good image of what the story is about!
